My wife and I recently had the most disillusioning customer service experience imaginable.
We signed unto the promotional contract on September 16th, offering a price of $19 a month, and the membership administrator, Geoff Afidchao, explicitly told us that if we choose to discontinue the membership, we must notify the club by November 1st.
Because of our situation (we may be moving shortly), combined with the lack of facilities, we came decided to not extend our membership, and came in on October 30th, as well as October 31st, 2007 to cancel, as we were instructed.
The general manager of the Bloor facility, Al Emadian than proceed to tell us that if we choose to cancel, it had to of been done 15 days prior to November 1st, and not 15 days prior to the expiration of our membership, as Mr. Afidchao clearly explained to both myself and my wife. The manager, albeit politely went into a sales pitch urging us to stay and sign a contract, ignoring the fact that Mr. Afidchao blatantly lied to us, and thus trying to make us liable for the $280 payment for the upcoming month.
He gave us an ultimatum. Either pay him the $280 we were tricked into signing, or sign a long term contract. Either way, it will help his bottom line.
While I do realize that individuals may inadvertently make mistakes in their explanations of rather complex legalese, the aforementioned manager and membership coordinator had the audacity to assume that BOTH of us were incompetent in our understanding of the contract, and that he in fact had told us we must submit a resignation 15 days prior to November 1st, despite clearly telling two well educated individuals (myself and my wife) otherwise.
To add insult to injury, at the time of the contract signing, Mr. Afidchao highlighted partial portions of the contract so as to corroborate his explanation of the terms, but which actually were taken out of context, presumably as some marketing ploy to get us to stay.
The manager, while calm and polite, also treated us as incompetents, alluding to the fact that the terms were stated on the document. Yet, he should know that a contract is an agreement, and his malicious misrepresentation of the terms made in an effort to get us to sign the contract are equally as valid as the paper document itself, thereby making it 'non es factum'. Yet all the while, he kept on throwing us marketing pitches to ease "our misunderstanding". Furthermore, which I found amusing, was his reply to my questioning of the managers knowledge of what Mr. Afidchao explicitly told us, seeing as he was not there.
He replied and said it was clearly a rhetorical question. That was given, but the irony was that the question he asked us a moment earlier was 'how did (he) know our interpretation of the contract and his dates', which by and large, is also a rhetorical tool. But in the case of Extreme Fitness, what is good for the goose is not good for the gander.
While I do understand how young managers and workers must make a sale, treachery and misrepresentation only hurt ones business. That is the reason we have already told a close friend who was considering getting a membership at your institution to look somewhere else. I feel as if I have no choice to do this to others.
Dishonest, if not plain condescending and deceiving business practices, as shown by this incident (notably the collusion between the manager and the employee) are symptomatic of greater problems in a business' practices. It is a shame that they cast a deep imprint on young professionals who are starting to carve their way into the world.
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NOTE: The evening after having written this letter, I asked Mr. Afidchao to sign a cancellation agreement. He did. But to make matters worse, he was sloppy in his math (as with his explanations), and stated that the ridiculous sum he advertised for the period of 1 month (129 per person, per month) is apparently only giving us access for an additional 14 days, once we finish the term for which we have pre paid, something which I ALSO have NEVER agreed to.
Bottom Line: Stay away. These people will trick you in any conceivable manner, and than use every excuse imaginable to pawn off any treachery on you, unless of course, you agree to sign a contract.
Shame.
Mig
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
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